it's you and me up against the world, it's you and me

[dysmorphics]

 

 

 

 

I don't need a parachute, baby if I've got you
Baby if I've got you, I don't need a parachute
You're gonna catch me,
You're gonna catch if I fall
( 🎶 )

Comments

[hadagreatpast]

Not in the mood to argue about which of them was more selfish, at least for the time being, Bucky just ignored her comment and let his eyes close while he felt Steph touch his lip, then looked up at her again. Another timeline or not, Bucky sure did love this woman.

Besides, their divergent timelines meant that for the first time since they were little kids getting to know each other, they would actually have things to learn about one another, instead of just knowing everything.

"We don't need to tell anyone everything, but I don't want to just keep you hidden away forever. And my family is gonna recognize this face of yours the second they see it." At least Becca and his Ma would. His dad... could go either way, really.

It probably said something about how Bucky had been living that it actually took him a moment to figure out what friends Steph was referencing, though. "The folks at the office are gonna know something's going on if I'm not in as foul of a mood as I usually am, though."

But he took her tags in hand and examined them, running his thumb over the raised lettering. "It's weird as hell seein' your name on tags like this, Steph." He had his own, of course, and if she was giving him hers then he would give her his in return, but it was still odd to think of her being in the Army.

[dysmorphics]

"Yeah, but we gotta think of something to explain this," Steph said, gesturing vaguely to her body, "without the government wanting to lock me up and stick things into me." There were still people in Brooklyn who would recognize her. Could they get away with saying she was a relative, Steph's cousin maybe? Becca would call bullshit, probably Bucky's Ma too, but they could at least be sworn to secrecy. Maybe. Hopefully. She hadn't had to think about this, as she hadn't intended to stay.

His friends would be another story. They couldn't know she had the serum. But she should be able to figure something out. She knew them — Peggy and Howard and the Howlies, even Colonel Phillips — so she should at least have an idea what they might think. She just needed more time. And less distractions.

As Bucky looked her tags over, Steph ran her fingertips up along his left arm in turn — still flesh and bone, which was weird as hell after everything. "It was the only way I could get to you," she told him. "I didn't wanna just... stay in Brooklyn and garden and wait for Becca to tell me you've been killed." Then she glanced at him with a teasing grin. "Must be weird that I outrank you, Sarge."

[hadagreatpast]

"Hey, no matter what happens, nobody's gonna go poking and prodding at you, you got that?" Bucky would shoot his so-called friends himself if he had to when it came to protecting Steph. "But we'll have to figure something out, cause they've been seeing your face for years now."

Bucky pressed her tags back into her hand before pulling out the pocket watch she'd gotten a quick glimpse of earlier. He flicked it open and handed it to her, letting Steph really take a look at the photo of her--happy and amused at something Becca had said to her off camera--tucked inside the cover. "I've got another photo of you on my desk at the office, too." So they knew her face, just not as well as he and his family did. And especially with the larger picture on his desk, it was easier to tell she was supposed to be small and skinny, not tall and curvy.

While she looked at the pocket watch, Bucky grinned slightly. "You outranking me isn't the surprising part, sweetheart. I usually ended up letting you boss me around anyway." Did Bucky mean to call her sweetheart just then? No, he did not. But he wasn't going to take it back, either.